THE Community Health Council has given its seal of approval to the new Renal Unit at Birch Hill Hospital.

The unit replaced an older facility at Birch Hill, which can now accommodate 16 dialysis stations compared with the previous seven. At full capacity the adult-only unit will house 64 patients from Rochdale, Bury and Oldham.

Members of the CHC, who recently visited the site, said they found it "spacious, easy to find and attractive".

Marilyn Aldred, former chairman of the CHC, said: "We spoke to the people receiving dialysis and all were happy with the new unit. Dialysis patients will spend the rest of their lives receiving treatment and the stations are well designed, look comfortable, and each individual station has a telephone and earphone, so the choice to interact with other, or not, is theirs."

Nine stations are operational and six new staff posts are being advertised to bring it to its full capacity.

Marilyn said: "The catchment area is Rochdale/Oldham/Bury which means no-one will have to travel longer than 30 minutes. The transport arrangements are excellent and everyone is satisfied with the service. We very much enjoyed our visit. Staff and patient morale seemed very high, which should make it a lot easier to recruit the quality of staff required. The Unit has been well thought out, with some excellent facilities."